Frozen dough conditioners

Abstract: The present invention provides a frozen dough conditioner for preventing the freezing damages, such as reduced loaf volume of bread and deteriorated texture and taste, on the frozen dough caused in freezing and thawing processes. The invention is directed to a powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough. The composition is prepared by spraying and drying an aqueous solution or dispersion having pH 4 through 9, wherein the aqueous solution or dispersion contains: (A) a sucrose fatty acid ester having HLB of not less than 5; (B) diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride; (C) a fatty acid monoglyceride; and (D) one or a plurality of sugars.

Description: The present invention relates to frozen dough conditioners for preventing the freezing damages on the frozen dough caused in freezing and thawing processes. The frozen dough has been highly demanded with shortage of hands and reduced working hours in the bread baking industry and with needs of consumers for fresh-baked bread. Freezing and thawing processes give freezing damages, such as reduced volume of bread and deteriorated texture and taste, on the frozen dough. In order to find countermeasure against the freezing damages, various studies including development of freezing-resistant yeast have been undertaken. Since there is a doubt of safety in potassium bromate conventionally used as a dough conditioner composition, L-ascorbic acid and other compounds are currently used as conditioners though they do not have sufficient effects. The newly developed conditioners are applied only to pastries having relatively high freezing resistance like Danish pastry. These conditioners cannot be used for breads having a lean composition like French bread since such breads have short shelf life and extremely low freezing resistance. Edible emulsifiers are known to have conditioning effects. The emulsifiers improve the property of dispersing and swelling of fats, oils, and other ingredients, and have appreciable interactions with lipids, starch, and proteins, thereby exerting the conditioning effects in each process of bread-making. More concretely, emulsifiers improve the machine resistance of the dough, increase the loaf volume of bread, and prevent excessive pores caused by freezing, thus functioning to bake bread of fine texture and good taste. The emulsifiers also improve shelf life. However, the emulsifiers conventionally used should be pre-heated prior to dispersing or dissolving in water to make its effects exerted. This requires time and labour, and nevertheless the conventional emulsifiers do not have sufficient conditioning effects. The object of the invention is to provide a frozen dough conditioner for preventing the freezing damages on the frozen dough caused in freezing and thawing processes. As a result of extensive study, the inventors have found a frozen dough conditioner prepared by spraying and drying specific edible emulsifiers and sugars. The invention is directed to a powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough. The conditioner is prepared by spraying and drying an aqueous solution or dispersion having pH 4 through 9, wherein the aqueous solution or dispersion contains: (A) a sucrose fatty acid ester having HLB of not less than 5; (B) diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride; (C) a fatty acid monoglyceride; and (D) one or a plurality of sugars. The sucrose fatty acid ester used here has HLB of not less than 5 and is prepared from one or an admixture selected from saturated and unsaturated fatty acids containing 12 through 22 carbon atoms. The sucrose fatty acid ester having HLB of less than 5 results in unfavorably hardened bread of reduced volume. The fatty acid monoglyceride may be a distillate or non-distillate obtained from natural fats and oils, such as beef tallow and cottonseed oil, or may be prepared from one or an admixture selected from saturated and unsaturated fatty acids containing 12 through 22 carbon atoms. Examples of the sugar used here include monosaccharides such as fructose and glucose, disaccharides such as sucrose and lactose, polysaccharides such as dextrin, and sugaralcohols such as sorbitol and maltitol. The sugar may be used alone or in admixture of two or more of them. The preferable contents of the sucrose fatty acid ester having HLB of not less than 5, diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride, fatty acid monoglyceride, and sugar are 0.5 through 90, 0.5 through 90, 0.5 through 90, and 5 through 95 percent by weight, respectively. More preferably, these contents are 1 through 40, 1 through 40, 1 through 40, and 40 through 90 percent by weight, respectively. The four ingredients are dissolved or dispersed in water to an aqueous solution or dispersion prior to mixing. Since diacetyltartaric acid monoglyceride has relatively low pH and low stability and the sucrose fatty acid ester may be coagulated in the pH of less than 4, the pH of the aqueous solution or dispersion must be adjusted to 4 through 9. The pH of greater than 9 is also unfavorable since alkali decomposes the ester. Adjustment of pH to the above range stabilizes the diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride (partly forms a salt) and the sucrose fatty acid ester and thereby enhances the conditioning effects thereof. Sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, or magnesium hydroxide may be used for the pH adjustment. The aqueous solution or dispersion adjusted to the pH range of 4 through 9 is then sprayed and dried to form a powdery or granular conditioner. The amount of the conditioner of the invention added to the dough is generally 0.1 through 5 percent by weight with respect to the weight of flour. Addition of the conditioner at the concentration of less than 0.1 percent does not exert sufficient effects while that of greater than 5 percent does not add any further effects and is thus uneconomical. The hydrophilic sucrose fatty acid ester having high HLB is soluble in water and has preferable dispersibility and solubility in water in the bread-baking process, thus being favorably dispersed in the dough. Diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride improves the machine resistance of the dough in kneading step and increases the loaf volume of bread. The fatty acid monoglyceride improves the softness of texture of bread crumb and improves shelf life. The powdery or granular conditioner prepared by spraying and drying the aqueous solution or dispersion has effects superior to simply mixed conditioner of the powdery ingredients. In spite of powdery or granular composition, the conditioner of the invention is easily dispersed or dissolved in cold water and pre-heating is not required prior to dispersion or dissolution. The powdery conditioner of the invention can sufficiently exert its effects under admixed condition with flour . The aqueous solution or dispersion prepared by dissolving or dispersing the powdery or granular conditioner of the invention may also be used as a conditioner. The frozen dough conditioner according to the present invention can effectively prevent the freezing damages, such as reduced loaf volume of bread and deteriorated texture and taste, on the frozen dough caused in freezing and thawing processes. Bread having the composition specified in Table 1 was baked according to the following process. In the description below, the term 'parts' represents 'parts by weight'. COMPOSITION INGREDIENTS RELATIVE AMOUNTS (PARTS) STRONG FLOUR (HIGH PROTEIN CONTENT FLOUR) 100 SUGAR 5 SALT 2 SHORTENING 5 YEAST 5 ASCORBIC ACID 0.01 WATER 60 (Process of Bread-Baking) Straight dough Method (1) Knead a total of approximately 5 kilograms of all the ingredients specified in Table 1 and, if necessary, conditioner, except shortening with a blender (2 minutes at low speed and 3 minutes at intermediate speed: kneading temperature: 18 °C). (2) Knead the dough more after addition of shortening (1 minute at low speed and 6 minutes at intermediate speed: kneading temperature: 22 through 23 °C). (3) Ferment the dough at 23 °C for 20 minutes. (4) Divide the dough into 200 gram-portions and ferment for 15 minutes. (5) Place the dough in a mould. (6) Freeze the dough in a freezer of -30 °C until the core temperature of the dough reaches -5 through -6 °C. Preserve the dough in a freezer of -18 °C. (7) After freezing for a certain time period, thaw the dough in a -2 °C-retarder for 15 through 20 hours and keep the dough at the ambient temperature for 30 minutes. Place the dough in a fermentation cabinet (32 °C: 80% RH). (8) Measure a time period in which the dough ferments to rise to a predetermined height as a final proofing time. Bake the bread in the oven at 205 °C for 20 minutes. For the composition specified in Table 1, the conditioner is not specified therein since the amount of the conditioner to be added is different in each example. As for the compositions of Tables 4, 6 and 8, the part of the conditioner is specified therein, since the part of the conditioner to be added is fixed. Example 1 A mixture of 3.5 parts of a sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 11), 1.75 parts of diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride, 1.75 parts of stearic acid monoglyceride (monostearin), and 28 parts of dextrin was dispersed and dissolved in 65 parts of water with heating and adjusted to pH 6 with sodium hydroxide. A powdery conditioner was prepared by spraying and drying the aqueous solution at 150 °C. In a concrete operation, the aqueous solution of the conditioner was dropped onto an atomizer(disk) rotated at approximately 10,000 rpm to generate a mist. A hot blast of 150 °C was supplied in the same direction of supplying the atomized aqueous solution into a dryer. The powdery conditioner thus prepared was added to the bread composition specified in Table 1. The powdery conditioner is mixed with strong flour (high protein content flour) at the concentration of 2.5 parts with respect to 100 parts of the powdery flour. The bread obtained is provided for the bread-baking test. Example 2 A mixture of 2.5 parts of a sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 9.5), 2.5 parts of diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride, 2.5 parts of stearic acid monoglyceride, and 17.5 parts of sucrose was dispersed and dissolved in 75 parts of water with heating and adjusted to pH 6 with sodium hydroxide. A powdery conditioner was prepared in a same manner as Example 1. The powdery conditioner was added to the bread composition specified in Table 1. The powdery conditioner is mixed with strong flour at the concentration of 1.5 parts with respect to 100 parts of the powdery flour. The bread obtained is provided for the bread-baking test. Comparative example 1 A conditioner was prepared in the same manner as Example 1 except that a sucrose fatty acid ester of HLB 2 was used instead of the sucrose fatty acid ester of HLB 11. Comparative example 2 A conditioner was prepared in the same manner as Example 1 except that the pH of the aqueous solution was not adjusted (pH 2) and the powdery conditioner was prepared by spraying and drying the aqueous solution. Comparative example 3 A conditioner was prepared in the same manner as Example 2 except that a sucrose fatty acid ester of HLB 2 was used instead of the sucrose fatty acid ester of HLB 9.5. Table 2 shows the results of the bread-baking test for Example 1 and 2 and Comparative examples 1 through 3. The terms '1-week freezing' and '4-week freezing' show time periods after start of preservation in a freezer of -18 °C in step (6) of the above bread-baking process. The specific volume, hardness, and taste were evaluated in the following manner. Specific Volume: The loaf volume of bread was measured according to the method of Rapeseed Displacement described below and the specific volume was then determined with the loaf volume of bread. Rapeseed Displacement: A vessel is completely filled with rapeseed and the volume of the rapeseed (first volume) is measured with a measuring cylinder. Baked bread is placed in the vessel and the vacancies are filled with rapeseed. The volume of the rapeseed charged in the vacancies (second volume) is measured with the measuring cylinder. The loaf volume of bread is obtained by calculating a difference between the first volume and the second volume. The specific volume (ml/g) is then determined as (the loaf volume of bread) / (the weight of bread). Hardness: A slice of bread of 5cm x 5cm x 4cm was prepared, and hardness of the slice was measured with a rheometer under compression for 20 seconds (compression speed: 2cm/min). Taste: The taste of bread was evaluated by five monitors according to the following criteria: A: Highly Soft texture of crumb with good taste; B: Soft texture of crumb with not-bad taste; and C: Sticky texture of crumb with bad taste. EXAMPLE 1 EXAMPLE 2 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 3 HLB OF SUCROSE FATTY ACID ESTER 11 9.5 2 11 2 pH OF SOLUTION 6 6 6 2 6 SPECIFIC VOLUME (ml/g) NON-FREEZING 6.9 6.6 6.5 6.7 6.3 1-WEEK FREEZING 6.8 6.5 6.3 6.5 6.1 4-WEEKS FREEZING 6.8 6.5 6.0 6.3 5.8 HARDNESS (g/cm 2 ) NON-FREEZING 23 28 25 24 31 1-WEEK FREEZING 22 31 27 28 35 4-WEEKS FREEZING 26 35 35 32 42 FINAL PROOFING TIME (min) NON-FREEZING 59 59 61 60 63 1-WEEK FREEZING 73 80 85 83 86 4-WEEKS FREEZING 89 89 105 93 99 TASTE AFTER 4-WEEKS FREEZING A A B B B The conditioner of Comparative example 1 and 3 contained a sucrose fatty acid ester having HLB of 2 while the conditioner of Comparative example 2 had pH 2 in the aqueous solution. As shown in Table 2, this resulted in unfavorably hardened bread of the reduced loaf volume with relatively bad taste. These conditioners required a relatively long time for fermentation and had low gas retention ability. The dough having higher gas retention ability rises in a short fermentation time. On the contrary, The breads baked using the conditioners of the Examples 1 and 2 have larger loaf volume, softer texture and better taste than those of Comparative examples 1 through 3. Example 3 A mixture of 6.3 parts of a sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 9.5), 4.7 parts of diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride, 1.5 parts of stearic acid monoglyceride, and 12.5 parts of dextrin was dispersed and dissolved in 75 parts of water with heating and adjusted to pH 7 with sodium hydroxide. A powdery conditioner was prepared by spraying and drying the aqueous solution at 150 °C. The powdery conditioner thus prepared was added to the bread composition specified in Table 1 at the concentration of 1 part with respect to 100 parts of strong flour for the bread-baking test. Example 4 The powdery conditioner prepared in the same manner as Example 3 was previously dispersed and dissolved in water with heating. Comparative example 4 A conditioner was prepared by simply mixing the three powdery emulsifiers and dextrin used in Example 3 (no dissolution in water, no pH adjustment, and no spraying and drying). The powdery conditioner thus prepared was added to the composition specified in Table 1 at the concentration of 1 part with respect to 100 parts of strong flour for the bread-baking test. Comparative example 5 The bread-baking test was performed without the conditioner in the same manner as Example 3. Comparative example 6 The bread-baking test was performed in the same manner as Example 3 except that only stearic acid monoglyceride was added instead of the three emulsifiers. The amount of the stearic acid monoglyceride is 0.5 g with respect to 100 g of strong flour in the composition specified in Table 1. Table 3 shows the results of the bread-baking test for Examples 3 and 4 and Comparative examples 4 through 6. EXAMPLE 3 EXAMPLE 4 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 4 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 5 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 6 SPECIFIC VOLUME (ml/g) NON-FREEZING 6.6 6.6 6.4 6.3 6.4 1-WEEK FREEZING 6.6 6.5 6.2 5.8 6.1 4-WEEKS FREEZING 6.5 6.4 5.9 5.3 5.8 HARDNESS (g/cm 2 ) NON-FREEZING 29 29 30 36 31 1-WEEK FREEZING 32 32 33 40 35 4-WEEKS FREEZING 37 35 40 49 42 FINAL PROOFING TIME (min) NON-FREEZING 54 57 59 62 60 1-WEEK FREEZING 84 82 90 102 95 4-WEEKS FREEZING 99 101 121 175 138 TASTE AFTER 4-WEEKS FREEZING A A B C C As shown in Table 3, the conditioner of Example 4 which was previously dissolved in water had equivalent conditioning effects to Example 3. Comparative Example 4 in which the ingredients of the conditioner were simply mixed had a little lower evaluation results. Comparative example 6 using a small amount of stearic acid monoglyceride had poor evaluation results. Example 5 The powdery conditioner of Example 3 was mixed with the ingredients specified in Table 4, and bread with wheat germ was baked for evaluation. INGREDIENT RELATIVE AMOUNTS (PARTS) STRONG FLOUR (HIGH PROTEIN CONTENT FLOUR) 90 WHEAT GERM 10 SUGAR 5 SALT 2 FATS AND OILS 4 YEAST 5 ASCORBIC ACID 0.01 WATER 60 CONDITIONER 1 Bread was baked according to the straight dough method described above, and the powdery conditioner was mixed with the other powdery ingredients. Comparative example 7 The bread-baking test was performed without the conditioner in the same manner as Example 5. Table 5 shows the results of the bread-baking test for Example 5 and Comparative example 7. EXAMPLE 5 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 7 SPECIFIC VOLUME (ml/g) NON-FREEZING 6.0 5.4 2 WEEKS FREEZING 5.7 4.7 4-WEEKS FREEZING 5.6 3.2 HARDNESS (g/cm 2 ) NON-FREEZING 35 38 2-WEEKS FREEZING 36 43 4-WEEKS FREEZING 45 130 As shown in Table 5, the bread of Example 5 had higher specific volume and smaller hardness than that of Comparative example 7 which does not include any conditioners. In the above test, the time of fermentation was fixed to 40 minutes for both Example 5 and Comparative example 7. Example 6 The powdery conditioner of Example 3 was mixed with the ingredients specified in Table 6, and butter rolls were baked for evaluation. INGREDIENT RELATIVE AMOUNTS (PARTS) STRONG FLOUR (HIGH PROTEIN CONTENT FLOUR) 100 EGG 15 SUGAR 10 SALT 1.6 FATS AND OILS 15 YEAST 3 ASCORBIC ACID 0.01 WATER 45 CONDITIONER 1 Bread was baked according to the straight dough method described above, and the powdery conditioner was mixed with the other powdery ingredients. Comparative example 8 The bread-baking test was performed without the conditioner in the same manner as Example 6. Table 7 shows the results of the bread-baking test for Example 6 and Comparative example 8. EXAMPLE 6 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 8 SPECIFIC VOLUME (ml/g) NON-FREEZING 5.2 5.1 2 WEEKS FREEZING 4.8 3.7 4-WEEKS FREEZING 4.6 3.1 HARDNESS (g/cm 2 ) NON-FREEZING 67 89 2-WEEKS FREEZING 102 150 4-WEEKS FREEZING 113 198 As shown in Table 7, the bread of Example 6 had higher specific volume and lower hardness than that of Comparative example 8 which does not include any conditioners. In the above test, the time of fermentation was fixed to 40 minutes for both Example 6 and Comparative example 8. Example 7 The powdery conditioner of Example 3 was mixed with the ingredients specified in Table 8, and French bread was baked for evaluation. INGREDIENT RELATIVE AMOUNTS (PARTS) STRONG FLOUR (HIGH PROTEIN CONTENT FLOUR) 50 WEAK FLOUR (LOW PROTEIN CONTENT FLOUR) 50 SALT 2 YEAST 5 ASCORBIC ACID 0.01 WATER 56 CONDITIONER 1 Bread was baked according to the straight dough method described above, and the powdery conditioner was mixed with the other powdery ingredients. Comparative example 9 The bread-baking test was performed without the conditioner in the same manner as Example 7. Table 9 shows the results of the bread-baking test for Example 7 and Comparative example 9. EXAMPLE 7 COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 9 SPECIFIC VOLUME (ml/g) NON-FREEZING 4.9 4.3 2 WEEKS FREEZING 4.6 3.3 4-WEEKS FREEZING 4.4 2.8 HARDNESS (g/cm 2 ) NON-FREEZING 82 117 2-WEEKS FREEZING 106 249 4-WEEKS FREEZING 121 275 As shown in Table 9, the bread of Example 7 had higher specific volume and lower hardness than that of Comparative Example 9 which does not include any conditioners. In the above test, the time of fermentation was fixed to 40 minutes for both Example 7 and Comparative Example 9. In any type of bread, the conditioners of the invention give favourable freezing resistance and improves the texture and taste of bread.

Claims: A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough which is prepared by spraying and drying an aqueous solution or dispersion having pH 4 through 9, said aqueous solution or dispersion containing: (A) a sucrose fatty acid ester having HLB of not less than 5; (B) diacetyl tartaric acid monoglyceride; (C) a fatty acid monoglyceride; and (D) one or a plurality of sugars. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein said ingredient (A) is a sucrose fatty acid ester prepared from one or more fatty acids selected from the group consisting of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids containing 12 through 22 carbon atoms. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein the fatty acid monoglyceride of said ingredient (C) is a distillate from natural fats and oils. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein the fatty acid monoglyceride of said ingredient (C) comprises a non-distillate from natural fats and oils. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein said ingredient (C) comprises a fatty acid monoglyceride prepared from one or more fatty acids selected from the group consisting of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids containing 12 through 22 carbon atoms. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein said ingredient (D) is one or more sugars selected from the group consisting of monosaccharides, disaccharides, polysaccharides, and sugaralcohols. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein the contents of said ingredients (A) through (D) are 0.5 through 90, 0.5 through 90, 0.5 through 90, and 5 through 95 parts by weight, respectively. A powdery or granule conditioner for frozen dough according to claim 1, wherein the contents of said ingredients (A) through (D) are 1 through 40, 1 through 40, 1 through 40, and 40 through 90 parts by weight, respectively.

Inventors: NAKAMURA KATSUKO, NAKAMURA SHINGO, NAKATA HIROYUKI, NAKAMURA, KATSUKO, NAKAMURA, SHINGO, NAKATA, HIROYUKI
Applicants: DAI ICHI KOGYO SEIYAKU CO LTD, DAI-ICHI KOGYO SEIYAKU CO., LTD.
Application year: 1994
Main classification: A21D6
IPC codes: A21D2, A21D6